Trail Running Gear Reviews

A searchable index of many popular trail running shoes and their heel height, toe height (generally referred to as stack height – or amount of cushioning), and the corresponding drop. This table is useful for comparing different shoes you may be looking at purchasing.

I had the opportunity to volunteer at Western States in 2017 at the Peachstone (Cal-2) aid station which sits at mile 70.7 along the Western States trail in the Foresthill Divide, east of Auburn, deep in the canyon near the American River. I’m told this year had the highest number of DNFs and the slowest female winning time largely due to the oppressive heat and humidity throughout the race, and the snow and mud conditions in the first miles of the race. This is my story from this years race.

Product Review – Altra Escalante

The Altra Escalante is the first Altra using the new Altra Ego™ midsole cushioning material which claims to offer outstanding rebound, light weight, and superior comfort. It is also the first Altra with a knit upper. After being disappointed with the Altra Torin 2.5, and lacking a good medium-cushioned road shoe since my previous favorite pair had too many miles on them, the Altra Torin 2.0, I was really excited to try out the new Altra Escalante.

In honor of National Park Week, Headsweats is donating 20% of all National Park Performance Trucker Hats sales to the National Park Foundation. They are also releasing a new hat based on your votes plus giving away a $100 Headsweats Gift Card!

Working for a global company, I’m often on the road for work. In a typical year, I travel 100,000 – 150,000 miles a year by plane all over the world which makes it tough to stick to a training schedule. I always recommend traveling with your running gear because you never know when you may be able to squeeze in an unplanned run. Since I spend so much time on airplanes and in airports away from my home trails in unfamiliar cities and towns, I’ve come up with these 10 tips which help me run when I’m on the road.

Product Review – Altra Lone Peak 3.0

The Altra Lone Peak 3.0 is the 5th generation of the Lone Peak shoe (1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 2.5, 3.0) and the fourth generation that I have owned. The Lone Peak 1.5 was actually my very first pair of Altra shoes, and I’ve been running in zero drop shoes ever since. I was really looking forward to trying these shoes out!

After a long Utah winter that saw me unexpectedly putting hundreds of miles on my Altra Lone Peak Neoshell, the weather finally changed and I’ve been able to get a full lifetime out of my Altra Olympus 2.0. If you haven’t had a chance, feel free to check out my first impressions of the Altra Olympus 2.0 and then come back here for the full review.

Late last year, some friends in one of my local running groups, Wasatch Mountain Wranglers, signed up for the Rainshadow Running Gorge Waterfalls 100k and posted in our Facebook group. Caught up in the subsequent fervor, and with my eye on wanting to qualify for Western States, I jumped at the chance and signed up! The race ended up selling out in less than a day, so I’m really glad I made the decision before it was too late.

I’d been eyeing the Mio Link Optical Heart Rate Monitor for a few months having seen the Mio technology (which was developed in conjunction with Philips) slowly show up directly integrated in to more and more watches like the Garmin Forerunner 225 and TomTom Cardio, so about 6 months ago I decided to pull the trigger and order one.

Did you get a new GPS watch over the holidays and wonder how you could automatically link your data to your Strava account without having to manually enter it? Are you tired of importing and exporting GPX, TCX, and FIT files? Did you even know that it was possible to automatically upload your data to Strava?